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Sunday, January 25, 2015

It’s January in an odd-numbered year, so we have the usual
turnover of transportation department CEOs.Both those in the trenches and those involved in
transportation more broadly hope for the best but have to deal with what they
get.In the Northeast –
fortunately for everyone – the four new commissioners/secretaries recently
announced are an outstanding class.

Sue Minter in Vermont (going north to south) has been
promoted from deputy secretary and is well known and respected in
transportation circles.Sue has
already pulled very tough duty as head of recovery from the devastation wrought
by Hurricane Irene, so is ready for anything.She is committed to climate change adaptation and mitigation
and has been active in the multistate Transportation and Climate Initiative.

Stephanie Pollack in Massachusetts – the only one of the
four I don’t know personally – is a pleasant surprise for many Bay Staters, who
were apprehensive about who a Republican governor might appoint.She is, in fact, a transit advocate,
and an academic (Dukakis Center at Northeastern) who studies equity issues and
transit oriented development.

Leslie Richards in Pennsylvania is a local elected official
who has been chair of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, one of
the country’s best MPOs.Leslie is
a trained planner, a progressive, and steeped in Pennsylvania government and
transportation issues.

Pete Rahn in Maryland is another pleasant surprise for those
wondering what a Republican governor might do.Pete has already been head of the DOTs in New Mexico and
Missouri and is well respected nationwide for both his technical skills
(particularly in performance management) and his diplomatic skills (which he’ll
need in a divided government).

This is a great group that promises very effective
leadership in the years to come!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Resilience to climate change and extreme weather events
continues to grow in importance as a topic among transportation professionals
and researchers, as shown in some significant sessions at TRB this year (TRB =
annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of
Sciences in Washington, DC).

There was way too much content for me to try to summarize,
but I do want to mention a few of the key (for me) takeaways.

First, despite the hostile political environment at the
federal level, USDOT is aggressively moving forward to incorporate resilience
into its programs and policies.At
TRB, FHWA called particular attention to a new policy document: FHWA Order
5520, “Transportation System Preparedness and Resilience to Climate Change and
Extreme Weather Events” (available here).The new order is more of a codification and explicit statement of current
policy than formulation of new policy, but it is very important
nonetheless.FHWA states it is
committed to “identify the risks of climate change and extreme weather events
to current and planned transportation systems,” to “integrate consideration of climate
change and extreme weather event impacts and adaptation into its planning,
operations, policies and programs,” and to encourage state DOTs and MPOs to
“develop, prioritize, implement and evaluate risk-based and cost-effective
strategies to minimize climate and extreme weather risks and protect critical
infrastructure using the best available science.”FHWA officials made clear that a key litmus test for state
DOTs will be the newly required “risk-based” asset management plan.The feds are still “digesting” the
results of the 19 pilot studies on resilience that they have funded and gave
notice that more climate change products and guidance is on the way.

Second, several states, either as part of an FHWA pilot
project or on their own, have done a lot of work in figuring out some very
specific and replicable adaptation strategies.There is still a lot of information to be vetted and shared,
but the sheer amount of work done is impressive.A lot of progress has been made in figuring out how to
integrate resilience into asset management planning, not so much for statewide
or metropolitan long-range planning.

Third, resilience work seems to be effective in red states
as well as blue states.It appears
that people recognize “extreme weather events” and the need to respond to them,
even if the local opinion leaders are saturated in anti-science conspiracy
theories.

TRB itself has created a resilience “section” in its complex
committee structure, a sure sign that an issue is officially important!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Electric vehicles (and lots of other new technology)
continued to draw a lot of interest at TRB this year (for the uninitiated, the
Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of
Sciences in Washington, DC is a big deal in the transportation world, bringing
thousands of academics and practitioners together to learn about cutting edge
research).

Some of my (very simplified) notes from EV session.

·Based on studying driving habits of battery
electric vehicle (BEV) drivers and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), if
you want to encourage more electric vehicle miles traveled, support PHEVs,
because those drivers use their vehicles for longer trips and generate more
electrified miles than BEVs. (Dawn Manley, Sandia National Laboratories)

·EV drivers in cold and hot climates experience a
significant loss in range – as much as 40%.They also use more energy.Emissions, however, are more related to the source of
electricity (e.g., coal vs. renewables).(Tugce Yuksel, Carnegie Mellon University)

·Perceived abundance of public charging
infrastructure promotes interest in buying EVs, but readily available home
charging is more important.(John
Axsen, Simon Fraser University)

·Most EV owners charge up at home, but owners who
have access to workplace charging will take advantage of it for about a third
of their charging.(John Smart,
Idaho National Laboratory)

·Accessories (mainly HVAC) account for about 25%
of EV energy use overall, and especially at low speeds and in cold climates
(heat pumps help).(Steve Zoepf,
MIT)

·EV owners and non-owners have very different
perceptions of the prevalence of EVs.EV owners see EVs and EV infrastructure everywhere.Many non EV owners don’t think they
have ever seen one.(Jamie Davis,
UC Davis)

·Washington State DOT continues to promote DC
fast chargers.The three west
coast states have more than 40% of the fast chargers in the US.Washington’s governor is expanding the
network.WsDOT believes that fast
chargers on the interstate (every 25 to 50 miles between Seattle and Portland)
give range confidence to EV buyers.There are more than 10,000 EVs in the state.(Tonia Buell WsDOT)

·The Pennsylvania Turnpike has begun the long
awaited installation of chargers (fast chargers
and level 2s) at all 17 Turnpike rest areas.

No real common theme here, just continued learning from
experience of EVs on the road.